Elara’s mother, Lila Voss, a kind and ambitious woman, was best friends with a powerful mafia-linked socialite, Vivian Blackthorne. Their friendship turned toxic when Elara’s mother, Lila Voss, encouraged a relationship between Elara and the woman’s son, Damon. Consumed by jealousy and ambition to keep her son under total control and marry him into a more “worthy” powerful family, Vivian Blackthorne murdered Elara’s mother, Lila Voss, in cold blood and staged it as an accident. With no other family, Elara was taken in as a “ward” at the Blackthorne empire but immediately reduced to a slave, humiliated, overworked, and constantly reminded she lives only by her captor’s mercy. Vivian then tries to lure her son Damon into relationships with other wealthy and well-to-do empires with the end goal to make her son marry from these other empires to maintain her empire's reign, influence, and dominance in the entire kingdom, but it kept failing. Along the line, Damon came to know Elara. He immediately fell for her, took her in as his personal attendant while Elara developed further hatred for the Blackthorne empire, and kept looking for a way to avenge her mother's death. She then plans to poison Damon, which didn't work out severally as she attempted to, but then she discovered she was pregnant with Damon's child after their first night of intimacy. Elara tries to protect the baby from Vivian, while Damon also wants to keep the baby for himself. While Elara still wanted revenge by poisoning Damon, she finally succeeds, but instantly regrets it. Damon later survived, and Vivian accuses Elara of poisoning, while Damon never suspected. Damon then protects Elara from Vivian's harm, and together they eliminate her because of her cruelty and harsh nature, and together they rebuild the empire, raise their kids, and build more allies in the kingdom.

Serena Caldwell signed a contract without really understanding what she was getting into. At just twenty-two, she stepped into the world of the Whitmores armed only with her courage and a flicker of hope that a cold, striking man might someday see her as someone important. Unfortunately, that never happened. Instead, he offered her a wedding ring, a pregnancy, and a secret that left her shattered. So, she took off and started anew. She transformed into Dr. Serena Caldwell, a Geneva-trained cardiothoracic surgeon known as "The Ghost." Fast forward five years, and she’s back in New York. This time, she didn’t come for him. But it seems fate has a twisted sense of humor. Damien Whitmore, the ruthless heir, billionaire, and the man who broke her heart, is now her patient. His heart, the one she always thought was nonexistent, is failing. And she’s the only surgeon in the country with the skills to save it. She could say no. In fact, she did, because he once shattered her with his indifference. Saving him would mean giving him the chance to hurt her all over again.